especially oil and gas. >> dan, we know this is going to be a very momentous week from the alaskan terms of the .ecision thank you again. >> thank you everybody. [applause] we are funded by television companies and more including comcast. >> are you thinking this just a committee center? >> notes way more than that. comcast is part of the 1000 committee centers to create wi-fi enabled so students from low income families get the tools they need to be ready for anhing. comcast support c-span a a public service along with these other television providers. giving you a front receipt to democracy.

russia-ukraine war. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> my friends, what a delight is to seek >> i have a great good fortune

to lead the foreign defense policy team here at aei and i'm joined by my steamed colleague mckenzie whose work on the defense budget structure, defense, industry and in a report just about to come out, also on defense reform is defining for aei and we have the pleasure today of packing with the leadership of the army of the united states. including thed secretary of the army christine, and the commander of the u.s. army in the indo pacific general flynn. christine, the secretary, if you inventing ideal credentials for secretary of the army you can hardly improve on christine, right? graduate studies and public policy she's been undersecretary of defense for policy and senior director for defense policy on

the msc. she's run institutional organization international defense and foreign studies and we are very grateful to have the secretary with us today. and also general flynn who also crazily enough is well qualified for the job the army gave him. commander that every level in the army including commanding the 82 pinged airborne, and having been the deputy commander of run the armies combined arms center is everything center of excellence now or were you just a center for -- anyway. a terrific soldier who is very well attuned to the challenges of the theater in which he is commanding army forces. and we'reng going start today

by -- with, of course, the question that comes from the canon the strategy by which i mean to sate movie the princess bride in which all of you will know they say that one of the classic blenderser is finding land war n asia so we open today with secretary and the general explaining to us whether that's hetrue and role is in indo pacic region. secretary -- >> thanks cory. thanks very much for having us and thanks mckenzie general flynn and i are delighted to be here. i think, you know, i would start by saying, and i love the princess bride that's a great movie. i think i would start by saying our goal is to avoid fighting a land warid in asia, and my views the best way, i mean, so one -- this is all about deterrence, you know we want to lower the temperature in the relationship with china.

i personally am not of the view that, you know, an invasion of taiwan is eminent. but we have to, obviously, prepare. we've got to be prepared to fight and win that war and i thinkt best way we avoid fightig that war is by showing the prc and country in then region that we can actually win that war. so when i think of the army's role in the indo pacific i really focus on deterrence. how do we build and strengthen deterrence while we're campaigning. and then what do we do if deterrence fails? so let me talk a little bit about both pieces of that. and i think i would say, you know, if i had a bumper sticker to try to capture the army's role in both of those phases if you will campaigning and -- war fighting, i would say land power is really staying power that's what we're about. and in the campaigning phase, i really think what we're doing is

threefold. first of all we are complicating china's decision making. president xi's decision making. you know, i think we have to really make him think every day about if -- if i were thinking about something aggressive against taiwan, would i be just feeling with the united states? or would i be dealing with a coalition like the one he see it is that we have built up to defend ukraine right now in europe? and we play a key role in that and it is not just about, you know -- everyone sometimes says oh you know all of the military and indo pacific are dominated by their army base and we're the army and we have good relationship that's what we're about in the indo pacific it's not about that. it's not just relationships for relationships sake. but i do think showing that we have a strong network of allies and partners in the region is really critical. and one of the ways that we do that is for example, with our fist security force systems brigade that trains and operates

with, you know, i think last year it was 12 different countries.in all of the big ones okay, japan, philippines indonesia thailand and general and readiness center which is where we are now some of the -- militaries from these countries are coming and building readiness with us whether it's in hawaii, alaska, or in other places. so that's number one during campaigning. number two is really -- we by being in the indo pacific are enhancing access in the region and that's, obviously, going to be really, really important.'s and through the exercises that we have, for example in many case we're able to make improvements to some of the infrastructure that's there in the threej we would need to operate in the case of a conflict. you know, the secretary often expansion to form more sites in the philippines really was and

iste a big deal. it was a little overshadowed because of the chinese balloon but that's a really big deal and you know we look forward to talking to the philippine army about what opportunities are going to be there for us to work with them as a result of that. and again that's just one example. but i think we're also looking at how can we build theater distribution centers in the region you know starting potentially with australia, for example which because of a location is outside of a lot of ranges and that's a place where we can work with the australian to build a hub to have supplies, to be able to move fuel around, for example and i think you know guam is, obviously, going to be the most important one of those distribution centers. but there are possibilities with japan, i think you know there's a lot we can do with australia. and again with the philippines and -- the singapore and in two cases it would probably nonlethal equipment that would be there

but that's the kind of that i think we need to be working on. and then i think the third piece of campaigning where we're building deterrence is really by showinget visible combat credibe forces forward in the region. and general flynn can expand on that but operation pacific pathways is really how we're doing this and our goal is to have army forces in the indo pacific 7 to 8 months out of the year. and we have some very large exercises now. we have shield which used to be a bilateral exercise with us in the last year became supershield. we have 14 countries in that exercise with us all of our sister services participated in that. and then we have, for example, this year coming up we're going to have saber whereea we actualy are going to move army preposition equipment from the korean peninsula using our army water craft to australia and that's, you know, again showing

how we're going to be doing this. we've got the exercise when the philippines and multidomain task force participating in that so countries in the region see that china sees that and allies and partners see that. those are all things we're doing if campaigning and then if deterrence fails and bill brief on this. i you know, i think there are really five cor tasks that the army has, you know, the first i like to say that we're the linchpin forth and again this gets to the staying power it is ourt job to -- to establish then build up and then secure and protect staging basis for the navy, for the marines for the air force. and that's why we're really building out our integrated militaryfe air force ability to protect those kinds of staging bases that are going to be key the second really big thing we're doing also about being a

linchpin it sustaining joint force that's where those theater distribution centers come into play. twe offer the opportunity to provide secure communications to the broader force. to again to provide intratheater setting up thought piles setting up forward air refueling points protecting them, all of that is going to be critically important given the vast systems, obviously, that we're looking at and we're expanding our water craft. we're going to have a water craft company in japan. so that's going to be very, very important. we then -- we offer command and control at a scalable level and i think general flynn can talk about that quite a bit more.an we have the capacity to provide joint task force headquarters. and we could, you know, if the indo pay commander wanted serve as the combined joint force land component commander. so wem just have a lot of capability there. and then the last two things we do that would be critical is

long rage fires you know we can -- help interdict and provide air defenses and we've got people don't know this but our first battery of long range hypersonger weapon is training with their ground equipment at jblm right now and by this fall, we will have our first battery of long range hypersonic weapons that element will be part of our first multidomain task force so i think that's very significant and we're also going to be bringing out the prototype for our mid-range capability which provides us the opportunity to -- to take out mobile targets at long range and then the last thing we do solvable provide counterattack forces i if they'e need. and there's a lot of discussion about, you know, how that would workrk and which different scenarios but i think those five tasks are incredibly important. the last thing i would say is -- particularly if we got into a major war with china, the united

states homeland would be at risk as wellun with both attacks and nonkinetic attacks or on pipeline and the united states army i have no doubt will be callede to provide defense support to civil authorities and that's something that people often put as an asterisk but it is incredibly important. they are going to go after the will of the united states public. they're going toth try to erode support for conflict. and i think the army will play a role here at home. >> you know, when during the berlin crisis in 1958 when the army chiefis of staff suggestedo presidentie eisenhower they need to start moving troops to europe, president eisenhower's response was -- that he should be impeached if he did that. they would be needed to restore civil authority in baltimore after the nuclear exchanges. yes. >> so now faces general flynn --

tell us about army and indo pacific. >> mckenzie thanks for having me today. as the title suggests here today, and as the theater is named after two oceans, i'm just here to offer that this is not --o only aning maritime theater this is a joint theater. it's got joint challenges and joint problems and it requires joint solution. so i'm the land component commander i'm the land guy i was the 25th infantry division back to 2014 and 2016 and then i was in that region all the way to 18 as deputy commanding general for both vince brooks and bob brown. and so i've been watching the ground forces and the pla since 2014 and they are on a historical trajectory that military armed that they have created is extraordinary. they are rehearsing, they are

practicing, they are experimenting. and they are preparing those forces for something. but you don't build up that kind ofui arsenal to just defend and protect. you probably are building up for other purposes. so the point i make here is that a couple of things. first of all, the chinese have in their operating on they have three things that we do not have they're operating on what's called interior line right next their primary octave nice doubt about it prize is taiwan and the land.he the second thing they have is mask. they have a lot and then, of course, they have magazine depth they have errors in their quiver. i would also like to communicate that the a280 arsenal that chinese have designed is primarily designed to defeat air and maritime capabilities and

secondarily, it is designed to degrade disrupt and deny space and cyber. it is not, however, designed to find fix and finish mobile networked dispersed reloadable ground forces that are lethal and nonlethal that are operating amongst their allies and partners inn the region. this is an important point. so i would really like to communicate three sort of special initiatives or unique initiatives that we have going on. in the theater really the secretary talked about a number of the strategic ends that her vision has e for the theater but the reality of it is i'm going to explain three ways that we're going about executing that he understand secretary just talked about. the first one is jointing pacific multinational readiness center as you know there's been 50 years of training center in

europe by graph and course that training center plays pivotal role right now. and then there's two training center in the continental united states one in louisiana and one in california. we never created one in the pacific but we have one now. there's two campuses one in hawaii, and one up in alaska. of course, hawaii has got eight island throughout the state, its jungle tropic surrounded by joint force and we do rotation there every year for the 25th infantry division and alaska campus has the yukon and training area to massive piece of property that army manages to include the air space. and in that area what you have is high altitude extreme cold weather and mountainous and then exportable version to indonesia inin 21 and 22 on smew and java and that to place up bay in

northeast corner so the first point is, we are -- we have created the joint pacific multinational readiness center it is theha army's contribution to what's called pin tech which is pacific multinational training and experimental at indo pacom what we are doing is generating readiness. we're generating that ready rns and then we're projecting it into the region on the succeed thing i would like to talk about which is operation pathways and operation pathways is -- putting combat credible p forces forward in the region for extended periods of time. and really does three things. it increases our interoperable andne human technical and and increases confidence in our relationship together. the second thing is does is it increasing our joint ready rns because we're operating as a

joint force. and the third thing it does is concern it's deny e human and physical terrain from the prc which are in all of the sub regions across the area from south asia to northeast asia to include the arctic circle. so pathways is our -- way of campaigning, pathways is our posture.in pathways is posture without con it is reenforces to ally an partner in the region by forward positions capabilities for extended periods off time and then the third thing that we're working on and many of these -- are angered by the core five that secretary talked about. is we're creating joint interior lines it is actually composed of foundationalal capabilities that onlyly the army provides a scal. those capabilities are command and control at protection by

survivability through engineering and laser protectin is level one to three threats, short range air defense, mid-range with patriots and then upper with theater ballistic missiles. the third way we're doing had is through sustainment activating aps stocks in korea and japan. we have seven vessels afloat for aps3 and layering in to operation pathway activity set in a wide range of locations where we're dynamically deployed or permanently position there most think in korea and japan. but also we're rotating forces there for example in korea, soon we'll jump i'm sorry from thailandp with gold and guardian will go to in the philippines jump down to shield in indonesia on island of java and then down to towns man saver and up into

japan and this effectively what we're doing by creating this entire y'all line is we're taking time in space away from the prc so we can extend indication and warnings for the national command authority so we can close the force, present the force, and be able to take decisions based away from the prc. last thing we're doing on interior lines is we're working to put collection sensors out there to see sense and understand so we can contradict from the ground and try to get together a terrestrial layer area lay earn space layer to do intelligence support to joint targeting. that's necessary for us to -- toat provide those joint long range precision fires and necessary for us to be able to maneuver and provide other forces to the joint force in support of our t allies and partners and in support of what the joint force must achieve. i'll end on this point, by saying exactly what the

secretary set up front. all of this these three ways that i'm describing pathways, and joint interior line is to deter this war from occurring. i mean, our goal out there is no war. but we have to be in a position and be forward with combat credible forces to deer it that fromo happening. and if p that happens to fail, then we're at least in a position to take advantage with the joint force to achieve the national justice set up by the national command authority and i'll stop there look forward to your questions. thanks -- >> mistook your division of command -- >> deputy just for the record. >> neglected to mention that you also been the g357 of the army which -- is a nontrivial credentialing for work that you're doing now and i said nothing of yours because your work speaks so loudly i feel like i don't need to. so --

great homework how's this looking for you? >> it's -- it's you make very compelling cases. it is important i think to penetrate the dc conventional wisdom bubble with the reality only the ground i remember reading an article last week -- you know there was a scene and crew aboard a military plane and then they were tailed by -- i don't know if that's the right word confronted by a chinese fight and it was funny i can't remember which military commander them like this was just a shock to sees and then they were like this was just another day. and south china sea so i do want to get a sense of what is actually like there on the ground. you know just on a daily basis tensions high, you know what's happening but then i want to ask specifically -- about is there anything applicable from ukraine i feel like if you ask ten enemy washington what are lessons learned about ukraine that might be relevant to taiwan you'll get 11 answers and so --

it's kind of what everybody whatever they wanted it to be and i'm nerches nervous because washington conventional wisdom is increasingly that ukraine is a one off. a world war i artillery engt won't happen again but as a result of ukraine our is large -- it is not bare. bush is helping make sure that's not true. but it's stretched because assumption about conflict i think are rosier than we want them to be. so -- take that anywhere -- any which direction you want start with you. >> why don't you start with what's it is like on the ground and always in theater. never in washington -- >> i think what i would say is -- the activity and i'll go across the region right, i mean, they have out in the western theater command there are 12 airfields that they have created in the western theater command most of those are size --

and they've moved two cords of pla among line of national control they've built supports in sam sites. they have choked off fresh quarter in the meecon river there's cut through to get access through the sea there's 1.2 refugees in a camp in bangladesh that's in south asia 2 billion people. southeast asia is trending in a positive direction i'm really encouraged by what's happening in singapore and malaysia and philippines in indonesia. and then but, you know, if you go out to oceana i would say there's -- it's under duress. a similarer approach that they'e taking out in oceana is currency

is corruption. they get into a loan deal with business leaders or political leadersne or military and police leaders and then they can't pay that loan back they get into the i.t. backbone and electrical grid they get into warehouses peers airfield and ports and access and access to what to terrain. places like body, salomon p&g, and there are challenges outs there. a little bit of that happened as a result of covid because, you know, we have to seal the islands up and people went about their business. but now we have to enter back in there administration is doing great stuff out there to open embassy but in the last year is some precedent compared to i was out there in '16, '17 and it was very dangerous and he's 30 shots

beyond that already. and then, of course, the activity in the south and east china sea and around taiwan, i mean, the -- cross line work -- the activities of the pla navy i can't go into great detail on what's happening on the ground but i can tell you that the pla army and the pla rocket forces and the strategic support forces are in dangerous positions. and so they're -- rehearsing they're exercising they're experimenting. and that kind of -- and then, of course, i'll just use two o examples. theju post speaker pelosi condut and then this recent balloon over the top of the united states and sovereign territory both irresponsible and aggressive whraifer behavior in region and sees that and they don't like that and getting reaction of the countries like south korea and japan, the

philippines australia and a number of others. so that's a little bit of the state off play in the -- in the region. >> so if i could ask a question -- i was struck by something you said secretary about -- limbering up forces and equipment on the korean peninsula for other missions. and that strikes me as a real advance given how the spoke and hub nature of alliance relationships in the pacific has beenn and impediment to lots of thingings thatdi need doing. whathi do you guys need that you don't have or what do you need more of whether it's -- diplomatic agreements, access agreements, money, authorities -- from the american government that can help you do the kinds of things that fully respond to this threats that we're hearing

about from general flynn? >> im think the biggest thing is -- defense diplomacy is, you know, securing agreements with countries in the region to allow us to doie more and not just ary but other services as well but you know, there's always -- you j know, everyone always wans to move faster and we've like to move faster but i know from my time as usdp that, you know, you can only move as fast as host nations are willing to move in terms of signing agreements for oven reasons it's a complicated it's a complicated neighborhood, you know -- a lot of the country is in the region, obviously, have very robust economic relationships with the prc. so i think, you know, we, we do have to -- be mindful of the fact that those decisions are going those countries will make decisions on their own timeline what they see that makes sense for national interest but i think to all of the points that general flynn

was making about -- whathe countries like japan, australia south korea see in the usregion right now is changing rapidly.y. and when i look back at, you know, where how japan saw itself and saw its role and the forces, you know ten years ago, it has changed dramatically, i mean, i think the -- the foxes in the philippines have p experienced the agreement sites because of their concerns about what they see the prc doing so i would like to see us, you know, continue to sort of have winds like those four new sites. but, you know, our job in the army certainly is to just be as ready as we can to take advantage of those agreements when they get signed. >> if i might -- i think important to point out i'll just use -- three countries indonesia philippines and australia. each of those countries are creating what we would call

combat training centers. and indonesia one is over on the island of southeastern coast of java because they've got 17 and a half thousand islands that they're spread across. .... in the philippines at one site there's a training area that they seek to put a training center together, and i think, and then of course the one in oust oust northeast corner, and these are al in the north either corner. these are all areas where they want toe collaborate and partner with the u.s. army because we know how to do combat training centers. so the expertise and the skill we can get to enable them to do that is just invaluable. plus, it gives us an opportunity about partnerships and really being able to conduct training and share techniques and procedures for us to be able to

have that as ant deterrent in te region. >> you are the countries and best defensive budget analysts, is congress giving the army and they've missed ration given the army what it needs to do this? >> i worry about, yes and no. i worry about, there is a vin diagram of things you might need for competition that could also be useful if there is a conflict. i worry were starving some of the deterrent capabilities, whatever that might be. i am pleased with the progress this year is going to be generational, we are cheering it on step of the way. i worry about the gaps in the competition and deterrence. where many seem to think

whatever we buy and prepare a posture for for the war is going to beth sufficient for every thg short of that. that's what keeps me up at night but i'm not going to sleep for a week after having youer here. a. [laughter] it is tremendous what is happening there. i do want to ask them about different kinds of acts of war. to be overfocus on the invasion scenario in washington over quarantine and blockade which to me are far more legally and politically complicated, pressed militarily but the disc timelines in washington. let's split soldiers like you defend against that the tour that best. the other two are also acts of war. correct me about the speakers the previouss speakers visit i saw different elements being dressed rehearsed and all three areas. the current house speaker is headed to taiwan also i believe next month or inli april.

we will get more out of that. is there anhe over emphasis on r invasion scenario at the expense of the others? >> certainly there's been a lot of time the department thinking about the invasion scenario. it is the mostn dressing. the mostes demanding. when return a little bit is been a lot ofga wargames done a lot f the wargames will not be necessarily a quick sharp even obviously a taiwan scenario. there is definitely the possibility of a protracted conflict. so i do think the magazine depth issue is a real one. i think again, everything we are seeing in ukraine shows us we have to ramp up production. the kind of peace time, just in

time supply chain model is not appropriate. i think certainly we are doing a lot in the army to ramp up our own organic industrial base and to work very closelydu with industry to see them ramp up their industrial w base. we've gotten multiyear procurement authority from congress and a couple of instances are going to make good use of that. and where i hope going to do two more big contracts next year looking at gamblers for example to increase our buys. i am not sure we have bought into the conventional wisdom that's going to be sure to bring the army is going to prepare for it to be longer. i think we do need to think about blockade scenarios. or even other things. the army has done some work analytically what if there is a border class for example between india and china that spikes? or obviously they could be

something -- some coercive belligerent behavior in the south china sea or other. and we do have to i think continue to think about those in addition to the taiwannk scenar. >> so before i go back to you, i want to add a point to the secretaries congress passing the defense budget on time is hugely consequential for the ability to do these things well. what i know from mckenzie's work the three month delay getting defense appropriation costs the department $18 billion in a lost ability to fight things. that is a lot of ammunition that could have gone into stockpiles that congress not doing fundamental constitutional responsibility costs the american defense establishment. >> just to build on that, cory koour comptroller has done some

work before sort of the 2011 -- 2012. we moved is the budget control act, continuing resolutions happen that they tend to be about three months long, relatively short period on the other side of the budget control act we have gotten into much more six month long crs and beyond. if you think about that that is preparing tou deter with one had behind your back. it is hard for us to compete effectively and doo everything e need to do the prc, if for six months of the year for example we cannot have any new starts for programs. some the key new weapon systems the army is developing will be impacted if we go into an extended continuing resolution. that is very problematic at a time when everyone is worried about timelines. >> i'm sorry for interrupting,

to infuse your work into the conversation. >> i was just going to say while the picture i was describing around the region, went to come back to the question of the invasion force. that is a highly complex eoperation i often remind people that in order to invade taiwan you have to generate an invasion force. not going to do it through a six bombers and his subs and ships are going to have to generate invasion force. in order to generate that you have to assemble. you have to move it, you have to combat configure it you have to combat loaded. that is just to get off of mainland china. then you have to go across 80 -- 100 miles to rates. then you have to seize, hold, defend and c consolidate gains n taiwan.l so, while there are challenges out there i will tell you the

complexity of a joint island landing campaign is not a small matter. you have to be an incredibly professional well-trained, well led force. and they are working on it but i will tell you from my perspective they are not 10 feet tall. they have work to do. and i think now is the time for us to get into position to be able to deter that event from happening. in fact that goes to the core tasks the secretaries asked us to do what was asking us to do and put together improved posture into the three parts that i described the three ways by which we are trying to contribute to that enhanced posture. >> mckenzie i am sorry i keep drawing on your substantive expertise and knowledge ask your own questions go ahead. >> i just want to return to us really struck by the secretary's comments about what you're going to do in the watercraft.

i've heard army leader after army leaders say that is why we are able to support ukraine instantly. they took equipment out dusted it off, test of the parts and exercised with it turn on the engines, ran the machines, so it worked and what didn't. couldn't support this it could support that et cetera. that is what helped spread them struck by that. want to go back before return to any audience questions and final questions from cory. lessons learned from ukraine for taiwan? he think jumping out or just we are smarter now in general and here's what we know? >> think what i would emphasize and i think there's lessons for many parties i would say coming out of the ukraine situation. i think one lesson is clearly it's the o old saying of the strategy is for amateurs, logistics or for professional spread logistics, logistics, logistics. the russians and found logistics to be very hard. i think logistics will be very

hard in the endo pacific in the event of a conflict. until we really have to focus on that. but i am pleased to say for example general flynn has a wargame called unified pacific. one of things it's focusing on is contested logistics and really digging into that. i had asked the head of army matériel command, general ed daly to partner general flynn and the logistical requirements for the end of pacific. they have really done a great job coming up with a list of requirements ife you will as a tactical operation and strategic level. we are really trying to focus on that prettyin think another lesn of course you see theur importae of unmanned aerial systems how they can be helpful offense of lee for us, but how important is going to be to defend against themve.

that's clearly a real thing we have to be concernedhe about. another major lesson that's relevant in the taiwan situation obviously is the importance of asymmetric capabilities and helping taiwan become a porcupine. i know that what i went to taiwan many, many years ago in the stone age and the late '90s they were really focused on what i would call the tech sexy platform fighter jets and things like that. that is not what they need most part it was not what they need it most then it's deafly not what they needed most now. i think for them, thinking about that through the taiwan relations act and arms sales, working onhe with them on that s an important lesson. >> i'm desperate to ask about balloons and changing theng arms role but i will leave that to her audience. [laughter] court you get the last question for he open it up.

>> the concern that some people have a lot as asian experts have is that we are drawing down things we may need for the defense of taiwan by providing them to ukraine. how do you respond to that? my answers we actually need the ability to both ofhe these thins that has great powers, can't over specialize to one thing. we d actually need to be able to do both. but onla a scale of say one -- 0 particulate you, general flynn, how concerned are you that what iso needed to help continue to decimate the russian threat by the ukrainian military, might impede our ability to assist regional allies in the nation. >> well, our forces are ready. i don't have a readiness

concern. if i tied together the previous question the other thing that is a lessons that is important for our forces being ready and being forward is as you are seeing in europe our weapons work. compared to some otherr countries. there is confidence in the region about our systems jasmine, stinger, you name, it. so again our positioning forward through the ways i was describing creates conditions for operational endurance. and increases the confidence of our allies and partners. so the secretary and i and the chief we've had a number of conversations that are continuing to go on about prioritization is a challenge across the world. because of the global commitment that is particularly true with

the army. i cannot speak for the other services but i will just tell you the three ways i was describing through a training center in the region, pathways again you think back to how we got into the particular stance we are in europe today to have a training center in europe. that operation atlantic resolve. they had edi. that just did not happen overnight. it happened of the five -- seven years. onto that staying power the secretary was talking about is what we seek. so i think ifek we can stay forward on to your .23 is a really important. the payload of exercises in pathways is really ended in 2023

and also pacific fleet. where can have upwards of 20000 forces west of the international dateline, joint forces. a bulk of those willf be between anywhere between six and 9000 for army forces west. i think this is an important year to get in position, create an enduring advantage and build up the three ways i was talking about. we are ready to do that and our forces are ready today to be able to respond if need be in the event something goes in the direction we do not want to i g. >> just reminded me you are our best megaphone for the work of our team. the edi i feel we've academic out our audience. the initiative was to sup will mental the deterrence initiative is really internal this is something is not new additional

money. i think we should have a conversation about the need for additional money. particularly except maybe when work supplemental. it will be nice of the pacific were funded like the european one and overlong part of time so thank you for thatr reminder. want to encourage her online audience as well and for you here in the room are going to come to next. feel free to submit questions we have about 10 minutes left. on your screen andre see that questions can be sent to emily.colette aei.org. what i have here are two questions arctic pre-base i'm room to look around the first books though, can i take to together the start? from two of the sharpshooting journalist at this table. next thank you. thank you for doing this.

mckenzie, you mentioned you had balloon questions. i will ask that one for general flynn, how frequently do your forces see balloons of this nature that are operated by the chinese?i i spoke from centcom recently he said they see them relatively frequently even that far away so how often are you interacting with these kind of balloons? >> when they are reported but other than that no i don't see you then. >> your to your forces see these balloons? >> only when reported. we do not have sensors at that altitude's picking up those it's nothi something we are going to pick up with the land forces. >> is this as concern for your forces in the region questioner. >> nobody else -- >> somebody else is out in a rage with paid that is not a role u.s. army has been. >> i think he's giving all you're going to get on that my

friends. [laughter] truck seems i can be a come certain ifif it's floating over europe are. >> sure it is a concern be asked me too be see it? i said when reported we see it. >> thank you. according to cia. >> please tells you are. >> thank you for taking my question. as the sink cia made a statement that maybe china has doubts on invading taiwan you have any comments? >> think general flynn laid out very effectively the complexity of a an amphibious invasion of n island like taiwan. i would imagine we'll try and has greatly modernized its military over the last 20 years,

that is not a military operation for the faint of heart. i would imagine president xi may have questions about how successfully the pla could do that. >> kim barron in the back. >> thanks cora, kevin, general good to see it. my question for you is a military man who's in the region, what is the difference from how you view the china threat versus high see p it portrayed in the press and politics today now that you are here in washington it is become a touchstone or whether you are a loyalist or not it often gets simplified byy balloons. you have laid out but how do you view this that's different than the public? >> i guess i view it to the lens of my time watching it. so i'll just say when i was there from 14 -- 18, and 15 they went through a reorganization.

they were on a path of modernization at the same time. so then they establish their theater commands. by the time i left in 18 they were doing some interesting things. i mean they had built the islands, they had seized them, then built them, than armed them. the reorganization of the theater command structure, the emphasis on joints, the modernization and the training. i guess my left in 18 i was concerned and then i came back here to d.c. to be and i still paid attention to it. but when i went back in 21 between 21, 22, 23 i think the difference between what i have seenre is they're exercising, their training, their rehearsing. and i guess the payload of activities they are doing with

all of their services from the rocket forces to the strategic the space cyber, land and sea. so to your points here's 14 -- 18. and then i see 21 -- 22 -- 23. and then i think out to 26, toy seven, 28, 29. absent them slowing down, that is a dangerous directory that they are on. so that be the incremental approach of modernizing training, reorganizing. you couple that to the approaches there taking on the insidious nature of the corrosive their currency is corruption. they're getting into dealsls out there the way we operate in the

region. i think that is what gives me concern as i watch it. maybe that helps draw a picture for folks not in the region. >> one last question in the room here in thehe middle. in the mackenzie will have about five minutes left online questions per. >> hello my name is chandler i am an analyst at palace advisors here in d.c. so my question is, there is a lot of mention about different countries operating in the region. however it took us a bit to get to any sort of mention of india. so my question is really centered on that. whate is the army's role in the end of the pacific without india? and is that challenge made harder without india's support?

>> we have a really good relationship with the indian army. they actually came to us this is prior to when i was secretary of the army. it is a pretty tense border situation right now, obviously with the chinese. we o provided them quite a bit f cold-weather equipments that was hivery, very helpful to the indians. i thinkpp they were very appreciative of that. we have a strong bilateral relationship. we have routine exercises within the general flynn could speak to more. like i i said it is a complicatd neighborhood. india has a long-standing relationship with the russians in terms of arms and things like that. i think we have to keep moving with them india's another country like japan, like the south koreans who have become increasingly concerned about chinese behavior. that will more and more have

interests that convergent overlap in that regard. >> i echo exactly the secretary mentioned on the extreme cold weather gear. i would also say this past year we had an exercise which is where they asked us to train them in the himalayan is at 10,000 feet for that exercise to be in alaska and at the 11th airbornee division we have a vey good cross training exercise with them and the kinds of conditions they can teach us certain things and then we of course will share some of those for the last point i would make on this we do in endo pacific army chiefs conference every year in the region this past year he did and bangladesh. twenty-three were going to do that in india with the indian army accepted the invitation to cohost that with u.s. army pacific it's the largest army conference in thend region. it's cohosted this year with india and us.

i find that to be very encouraging part of our relationship here in the interim. >> mckenzie we have time for one or two online questions per. >> the sign of how large america's army is and how difficult it is to get any time with general flynn a question from one of your fellow colleagues. [laughter] [laughter] one of our closest allies might be in fact the last question. he is wondering what concrete steps are you in the secretary taking to increase our footprint and work with ourur security defense forces the and operability especially given the emphasis on long-range. >> the secretary mentioned the composite watercraft company. the big growing in that's one

addition. i often refer to the t army in japan as a first round welterweight fighter. we don't have many people there. the regional support group we of the porch in okinawa. couple things are reallyth excited. firstef general chief of the grounds of self-defense forces. sethis last year he asked us abt exercise or windshield down in the southwest islands.

we had ss 12 ssm 12 on an island. we also with the japanese ground self-defense forces they actually invited the australians to sent observers in the philippines to send observers. the chief of the philippine army came to japan and we did between the u.s. army and the philippine army. next year will have a u.s. division, a philippine division, an australian division which is regional armies in the japanese army. as many of you know the japanese have doubled their defense budget. there investing counter stripe

capabilities. they have added a joints command into their structure. these are all really positive things. i have a really close relationship with the chief of the japanese ground self-defense forces. i am really encouraged by the work we're doing doing together in japan across the region. >> secretary, the last word is yours. >> the only thing i think i flynn saido general at the last big secretary austin's counterpart in japan often difficult two plus two, they made the announcement up the marine regiment. what more we can do i think our multi- domain task force has a lot of potential and can be very, very useful. we continue to talk with theop

japanese about what more we can do i think there are opportunities for. think of the regiment in the multi- domain task force has long-range fire capabilities but also brings together non- iekinetic capabilities in termsf operations, electronic warfare that is something that can really be valuable in japan at some point if we are able to do that rotationally. >> oh my friend, thank you for your time today. i want you to join me in thanking these terrific leaders of the army and of course mckenzie thank you for coming per please stay in your seats. [background noises]

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public service along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> here is a look at what is coming up on c-span2. next the florida governor santos delivers his annual state of the state address from the capitol in tallahassee. that's of a new governor josh shapiro speaks of the state legislature in his first address on the state budget. senate hearing a big tech dominance and rights now florida governor ron desantis highlights economic growth and hurricane recovery efforts in this year's state of the state address from the state capitol in tallahassee david this is nearly 30 minutes. [applause]